What exactly is our soul?

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biblestudent78

biblestudent78

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Nov 24, 2025
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As far as I can determine, the Hebrew Bible does not contain the concept that humans have a soul. Historically, one can see in the struggles during the worst of the Greek persecutions in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a growing spiritual crisis brought on by Greek brutality. "How can God let us be so persecuted by such evil men but we all wind up in the same place after death?" (sheol - essentially the grave) Thus, parts of the book of Daniel written in the 160's BC begin to express a desire for postmortem divine reward and punishment. The apocryphal books authored in this period extensively fantasize about a vibrant afterlife but do not evolve clearly a theology of what 1st century Christians would call the soul.

Prior Egyptian theology had clear concepts of the soul by not always fully separate from the body, thus they embalmed their Pharaohs and important people for their trip through the afterlife, but provided food and tools they may need to use after death.

Over time, after the 4th century AD, Christian theology now the state religion, the soul slowly became the "true identity" and "true value" of a human being. Thus, it was not long before the idea was it was just and proper to torcher the body to save the soul demonstrating what was valuable about a human was only their soul. Many Christians, both Roman Catholic and Protestant had no qualms about burning people at the stake because their bodies were immaterial and in their pain and suffering their soul might find salvation. Christians launched 3 major Crusades against various groups including Muslims enabled and emboldened by the Popes (several) promise of eternal salvation of the their souls should they die. Christianity, by and large, came to believe that our soul is our "true self."

As we do not experience anything in life that we can call our soul separate from our consciousness, if our soul is our true self, how would we know that if we did not read about it? Is there a relationship between or mind and what we think is our soul? Or is our soul undetectable by our minds or bodies? If it is undetectable, how can our souls be any part of us? Is our soul customized in some way that makes it "ours?" Does our souls contain memories separate and apart from our brains or minds? Most Christians believe in some way that when our souls get to heaven we will retain all the memories that once only our brains retained. So, do our souls have memories and thoughts and emotions that exactly match what we have in our brains now? Is there any other characteristic about our soul other than we believe it eternal? Does our soul play any detectable part in our daily life? Is there anyway to connect to our soul except through our imagination? If our soul is our "true self" how would we know that other than having been told that? Is our soul the non-human part of being human?

Or is our concept of the soul the universal human experience fueled by of our inability to see our death as final?
 
biblestudent78 said:
As far as I can determine, the Hebrew Bible does not contain the concept that humans have a soul. Historically, one can see in the struggles during the worst of the Greek persecutions in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a growing spiritual crisis brought on by Greek brutality. "How can God let us be so persecuted by such evil men but we all wind up in the same place after death?" (sheol - essentially the grave) Thus, parts of the book of Daniel written in the 160's BC begin to express a desire for postmortem divine reward and punishment. The apocryphal books authored in this period extensively fantasize about a vibrant afterlife but do not evolve clearly a theology of what 1st century Christians would call the soul.

Prior Egyptian theology had clear concepts of the soul by not always fully separate from the body, thus they embalmed their Pharaohs and important people for their trip through the afterlife, but provided food and tools they may need to use after death.

Over time, after the 4th century AD, Christian theology now the state religion, the soul slowly became the "true identity" and "true value" of a human being. Thus, it was not long before the idea was it was just and proper to torcher the body to save the soul demonstrating what was valuable about a human was only their soul. Many Christians, both Roman Catholic and Protestant had no qualms about burning people at the stake because their bodies were immaterial and in their pain and suffering their soul might find salvation. Christians launched 3 major Crusades against various groups including Muslims enabled and emboldened by the Popes (several) promise of eternal salvation of the their souls should they die. Christianity, by and large, came to believe that our soul is our "true self."

As we do not experience anything in life that we can call our soul separate from our consciousness, if our soul is our true self, how would we know that if we did not read about it? Is there a relationship between or mind and what we think is our soul? Or is our soul undetectable by our minds or bodies? If it is undetectable, how can our souls be any part of us? Is our soul customized in some way that makes it "ours?" Does our souls contain memories separate and apart from our brains or minds? Most Christians believe in some way that when our souls get to heaven we will retain all the memories that once only our brains retained. So, do our souls have memories and thoughts and emotions that exactly match what we have in our brains now? Is there any other characteristic about our soul other than we believe it eternal? Does our soul play any detectable part in our daily life? Is there anyway to connect to our soul except through our imagination? If our soul is our "true self" how would we know that other than having been told that? Is our soul the non-human part of being human?

Or is our concept of the soul the universal human experience fueled by of our inability to see our death as final?
Click to expand...

soul = body + spirit per Gen 2:7.
 
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biblestudent78 said:
As far as I can determine, the Hebrew Bible does not contain the concept that humans have a soul. Historically, one can see in the struggles during the worst of the Greek persecutions in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, a growing spiritual crisis brought on by Greek brutality. "How can God let us be so persecuted by such evil men but we all wind up in the same place after death?" (sheol - essentially the grave) Thus, parts of the book of Daniel written in the 160's BC begin to express a desire for postmortem divine reward and punishment. The apocryphal books authored in this period extensively fantasize about a vibrant afterlife but do not evolve clearly a theology of what 1st century Christians would call the soul.

Prior Egyptian theology had clear concepts of the soul by not always fully separate from the body, thus they embalmed their Pharaohs and important people for their trip through the afterlife, but provided food and tools they may need to use after death.

Over time, after the 4th century AD, Christian theology now the state religion, the soul slowly became the "true identity" and "true value" of a human being. Thus, it was not long before the idea was it was just and proper to torcher the body to save the soul demonstrating what was valuable about a human was only their soul. Many Christians, both Roman Catholic and Protestant had no qualms about burning people at the stake because their bodies were immaterial and in their pain and suffering their soul might find salvation. Christians launched 3 major Crusades against various groups including Muslims enabled and emboldened by the Popes (several) promise of eternal salvation of the their souls should they die. Christianity, by and large, came to believe that our soul is our "true self."

As we do not experience anything in life that we can call our soul separate from our consciousness, if our soul is our true self, how would we know that if we did not read about it? Is there a relationship between or mind and what we think is our soul? Or is our soul undetectable by our minds or bodies? If it is undetectable, how can our souls be any part of us? Is our soul customized in some way that makes it "ours?" Does our souls contain memories separate and apart from our brains or minds? Most Christians believe in some way that when our souls get to heaven we will retain all the memories that once only our brains retained. So, do our souls have memories and thoughts and emotions that exactly match what we have in our brains now? Is there any other characteristic about our soul other than we believe it eternal? Does our soul play any detectable part in our daily life? Is there anyway to connect to our soul except through our imagination? If our soul is our "true self" how would we know that other than having been told that? Is our soul the non-human part of being human?

Or is our concept of the soul the universal human experience fueled by of our inability to see our death as final?
Click to expand...
The Bible does not lay everything out for us in black and white. God wants us to study His word with diligence and seek Him for revelation. My understanding of the soul is courtesy of some men of God who have done exactly that.

We need to go back to the creation of man to understand his make up. We need to realise that we are made in God's image. And God is Spirit. So the primary nature of man is his spirit. It is obvious that he has a physical body. It is also obvious that he can think, feel and choose.

God warned Adam that he would die the day that he ate the forbidden fruit. It is obvious that Adam did not die physically. Adam could still think, feel and choose. So the logical conclusion is that Adam died spiritually.

The soul is not the spirit. Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour". (Luke 1:46) From this declaration, we can see that the soul and spirit have different functions. The soul "magnifies" or fully expresses what is in the spirit.

The Old Testament has many references to the function of the soul. There are also many references to the spirit of man.

The spirit of man is what died to God. It does not mean the end of existence. Spiritual death means separation from God. Adam and Eve immediately were ashamed and hid from God. Their next step was to engage logic and reason to find a way to cover up their sin. It did not work then and it does not work now.

So we can conclude that the spirit of man must be made alive if we are to be restored to fellowship with God. And that is precisely what it means to be born again.

In the believer's experience, we should be hearing from God in our spirit. We should then act on what we hear through the choice of our will. For example, we may need to encourage a brother going through a hard time. We receive a word from God for the brother. We then choose to speak that word. We are not robotic, so there is emotion with the words. That is the ideal situation. We rarely get it right all the time, especially as new believers. There are reasons for that, but I won't go over that now.

We need to learn discernment and learn to hear the voice of God. If we are willing to spend time in God's word and to ask His help, He will lead us and teach us.
 
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Gideon300 said:
Wrong translation. KJV........ The correct translation is living being. The distinction is important.
Click to expand...

The Hebrew word means breathing creature, and is translated soul in the LXX and throughout the NT

G5590 ψυχή psuche (psï-chee') n.
1. soul, inner being or life.
2. (literally) breath.

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul (ψυχή); the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45​
​
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul (ψυχή) and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23​
 
ChristRoseFromTheDead said:
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7
Click to expand...
Exactly at the heart of the question. By Genesis (with the preferred version) the body and soul are one thing. Indivisible. We are a soul with a body. However, that does not answer the important question of exactly what is a soul separate from the body? If they are one and the same thing then both die together. If you accept Genesis as the composition and redactions of the 8th through the 4th century BC, then it is easy to see how it evolved in harmony with the evolving need for something to reward or punish. If the soul has no connection to the human body, then how do heavenly rewards for our souls (which requires all sensory ability a living human) work? In the same way, how do our souls suffer exactly the same way as our bodies would if the soul is not physical, if it has no pain receptors, no skin, no tears, etc in hell.? Either approach requires circular logic. On one hand the soul can't "experience" anything as it has no human components that are required. It cannot see, hear, smell, think or feel. It has no memory to provide the regret of hell or the reward of "reunion" with our personal earthly friends and loved ones. Only a human body can do so. Only a human brain can experience these emotions.
 
So hel
Gideon300 said:
The Bible does not lay everything out for us in black and white. God wants us to study His word with diligence and seek Him for revelation. My understanding of the soul is courtesy of some men of God who have done exactly that.

We need to go back to the creation of man to understand his make up. We need to realise that we are made in God's image. And God is Spirit. So the primary nature of man is his spirit. It is obvious that he has a physical body. It is also obvious that he can think, feel and choose.

God warned Adam that he would die the day that he ate the forbidden fruit. It is obvious that Adam did not die physically. Adam could still think, feel and choose. So the logical conclusion is that Adam died spiritually.

The soul is not the spirit. Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour". (Luke 1:46) From this declaration, we can see that the soul and spirit have different functions. The soul "magnifies" or fully expresses what is in the spirit.

The Old Testament has many references to the function of the soul. There are also many references to the spirit of man.

The spirit of man is what died to God. It does not mean the end of existence. Spiritual death means separation from God. Adam and Eve immediately were ashamed and hid from God. Their next step was to engage logic and reason to find a way to cover up their sin. It did not work then and it does not work now.

So we can conclude that the spirit of man must be made alive if we are to be restored to fellowship with God. And that is precisely what it means to be born again.

In the believer's experience, we should be hearing from God in our spirit. We should then act on what we hear through the choice of our will. For example, we may need to encourage a brother going through a hard time. We receive a word from God for the brother. We then choose to speak that word. We are not robotic, so there is emotion with the words. That is the ideal situation. We rarely get it right all the time, especially as new believers. There are reasons for that, but I won't go over that now.

We need to learn discernment and learn to hear the voice of God. If we are willing to spend time in God's word and to ask His help, He will lead us and teach us.
Click to expand...
So help me out here. Is it your understanding that humans have a body, soul and spirit and all are separate? If so which arrives in heaven or hell?
 
Gideon300 said:
The Bible does not lay everything out for us in black and white. God wants us to study His word with diligence and seek Him for revelation. My understanding of the soul is courtesy of some men of God who have done exactly that.

We need to go back to the creation of man to understand his make up. We need to realise that we are made in God's image. And God is Spirit. So the primary nature of man is his spirit. It is obvious that he has a physical body. It is also obvious that he can think, feel and choose.

God warned Adam that he would die the day that he ate the forbidden fruit. It is obvious that Adam did not die physically. Adam could still think, feel and choose. So the logical conclusion is that Adam died spiritually.

The soul is not the spirit. Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my saviour". (Luke 1:46) From this declaration, we can see that the soul and spirit have different functions. The soul "magnifies" or fully expresses what is in the spirit.

The Old Testament has many references to the function of the soul. There are also many references to the spirit of man.

The spirit of man is what died to God. It does not mean the end of existence. Spiritual death means separation from God. Adam and Eve immediately were ashamed and hid from God. Their next step was to engage logic and reason to find a way to cover up their sin. It did not work then and it does not work now.

So we can conclude that the spirit of man must be made alive if we are to be restored to fellowship with God. And that is precisely what it means to be born again.

In the believer's experience, we should be hearing from God in our spirit. We should then act on what we hear through the choice of our will. For example, we may need to encourage a brother going through a hard time. We receive a word from God for the brother. We then choose to speak that word. We are not robotic, so there is emotion with the words. That is the ideal situation. We rarely get it right all the time, especially as new believers. There are reasons for that, but I won't go over that now.

We need to learn discernment and learn to hear the voice of God. If we are willing to spend time in God's word and to ask His help, He will lead us and teach us.
Click to expand...
If God did not know what Adam would do before he did it, was God somehow less omnipotent and omniscient back then? If there was evil in the Garden, who put evil there? What creative force created evil and put it in the garden? Was God unable to defend His creation from evil? If not, why did He bring evil to the garden knowing full well what would happen when He did.....or is this the creation of 8th - 2nd Hebrew writers and editors creating an origin story inspired by the creation stories of those nations that preceded them and surrounded them? Ancient Egyptians believed in an eternal afterlife as did ancient Greeks, Mesopotamians and many other ancient cultures. The narrative of Adam, Eve and the evolution of heavenly citizens coming to earth to breed with women is unique to Greek and Mesopotamians. The Genesis flood story is a virtual copy of the Mesopotamian flood story. Thus I would not put extraordinary weight on our understanding of "the soul" based only from a few sentences in Genesis as those writers demonstrate a willingness to incorporate common themes and stories from proceeding and surrounding cultures.
 
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📖 Old Testament (Hebrew)​

Nephesh (נֶפֶשׁ)​

Meaning:
  • Soul
  • Life
  • Living being / person
  • Breath
  • Inner self (mind, emotions, desires)
Key idea:
In Hebrew thinking, nephesh does not mean a separate “ghost-like” part of you—it often means the whole living person.
Example:
  • Genesis 2:7
    “Man became a living soul (nephesh)”
👉 This shows:
  • Man became a soul (not “received” one as a separate entity)

📖 New Testament (Greek)​

Psyche (ψυχή)​

Meaning:
  • Soul
  • Life
  • Self
  • Mind / heart
  • Personhood
Key idea:
Psyche carries a similar meaning to nephesh—it often refers to life itself or the inner being, not just an immortal essence.
Example:
  • Matthew 16:26
    “What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul (psyche)?”

⚖️ Important Insight​

Both nephesh and psyche:
  • Can mean life (not just “soul”)
  • Can refer to a person as a whole
  • Can include emotions, desires, and identity

🧠 Summary (Simple)​

LanguageWordCore Meaning
HebrewNepheshLiving being / life / person
GreekPsycheLife / self / inner being
 
Gideon300 said:
Wrong translation. KJV........ The correct translation is living being. The distinction is important.
Click to expand...
I think using soul in the translation is OK as Soul means many things here -so you can use soul ----or living being ----both are correct -----

this is from Strong's Hebrew word for soul

Lexical Summary
nephesh: Soul, life, self, person, heart, creature, mind, living being

Definition
a soul, living being, life, self, person, desire, passion, appetite, emotion
 
biblestudent78 said:
Exactly at the heart of the question. By Genesis (with the preferred version) the body and soul are one thing. Indivisible. We are a soul with a body. However, that does not answer the important question of exactly what is a soul separate from the body? If they are one and the same thing then both die together. If you accept Genesis as the composition and redactions of the 8th through the 4th century BC, then it is easy to see how it evolved in harmony with the evolving need for something to reward or punish. If the soul has no connection to the human body, then how do heavenly rewards for our souls (which requires all sensory ability a living human) work? In the same way, how do our souls suffer exactly the same way as our bodies would if the soul is not physical, if it has no pain receptors, no skin, no tears, etc in hell.? Either approach requires circular logic. On one hand the soul can't "experience" anything as it has no human components that are required. It cannot see, hear, smell, think or feel. It has no memory to provide the regret of hell or the reward of "reunion" with our personal earthly friends and loved ones. Only a human body can do so. Only a human brain can experience these emotions.
Click to expand...

The soul, being body + spirit, is never separate from either.
The physical body is translated into a spiritual body per 1Cor. 15:35-50.
The human spirit is united with the HS in believers (Rom. 5:5, 8:23).
 
GWH said:
The soul, being body + spirit, is never separate from either.
The physical body is translated into a spiritual body per 1Cor. 15:35-50.
The human spirit is united with the HS in believers (Rom. 5:5, 8:23).
Click to expand...
Is it your understanding that the "spiritual" body contains all the mental, physical and emotional realities that mirrors the physical body? So, once the physical body dies, it is translated to a spiritual body.....but are we not back with circular reasoning? The spiritual "body" has no aspects as the physical body...memories, feelings, sexual urges, instincts, logic, family history, national history, biblical knowledge etc. What part of the human is "united" with the Holy Spirit? All of it, good and evil? Fallen man is united with God's Holy Spirit, but that person still has agency? or is our agency replaced in some spiritual way so that what we do, no matter how evil, we are united with God who only punishes evil. Or does our "belief" make us Holy, thus our spirit is Holy no matter how much evil, depravity and mortal sin we commit? Sounds like a deal to me.
 
biblestudent78 said:
Is it your understanding that the "spiritual" body contains all the mental, physical and emotional realities that mirrors the physical body? So, once the physical body dies, it is translated to a spiritual body.....but are we not back with circular reasoning? The spiritual "body" has no aspects as the physical body...memories, feelings, sexual urges, instincts, logic, family history, national history, biblical knowledge etc. What part of the human is "united" with the Holy Spirit? All of it, good and evil? Fallen man is united with God's Holy Spirit, but that person still has agency? or is our agency replaced in some spiritual way so that what we do, no matter how evil, we are united with God who only punishes evil. Or does our "belief" make us Holy, thus our spirit is Holy no matter how much evil, depravity and mortal sin we commit? Sounds like a deal to me.
Click to expand...

Those are all good questions, but Paul did not go into detail when saying the physical body becomes an immortal/spiritual body,
presumably in order to be judged.
I guess evil spirits would have memories of sins, and forgiven spirits would have memories of learning God's Word,
which is the purpose of earthly existence.
Jesus indicated that resurrected bodies would not have sexual organs, because there is no marriage in heaven.

When Scripture speaks of being indwelt by the HS, I think being united with the human spirit makes more sense.
Sinners have MFW, which cooperates with GW when they repent and are indwelt/Spirit baptized.
Saving faith/belief/MFW means willingness to be made morally righteous by the Lord, no matter how sinful we were.
It is a perfect deal, called divine grace. :love:
 
biblestudent78 said:
If God did not know what Adam would do before he did it, was God somehow less omnipotent and omniscient back then? If there was evil in the Garden, who put evil there? What creative force created evil and put it in the garden? Was God unable to defend His creation from evil? If not, why did He bring evil to the garden knowing full well what would happen when He did.....or is this the creation of 8th - 2nd Hebrew writers and editors creating an origin story inspired by the creation stories of those nations that preceded them and surrounded them? Ancient Egyptians believed in an eternal afterlife as did ancient Greeks, Mesopotamians and many other ancient cultures. The narrative of Adam, Eve and the evolution of heavenly citizens coming to earth to breed with women is unique to Greek and Mesopotamians. The Genesis flood story is a virtual copy of the Mesopotamian flood story. Thus I would not put extraordinary weight on our understanding of "the soul" based only from a few sentences in Genesis as those writers demonstrate a willingness to incorporate common themes and stories from proceeding and surrounding cultures.
Click to expand...
Mankind generally believes in an afterlife of some kind. Atheists are comparatively rare. However, your assertion that the Bible somehow is a concoction of idolatrous myths is wrong.

If you have a year or two to spare, say 20 hours a week, I could correct your misunderstandings and answer your questions. Now I have a question for you: what Bible do you use? Because it surely is not God's word.
 
ChristRoseFromTheDead said:
The Hebrew word means breathing creature, and is translated soul in the LXX and throughout the NT

G5590 ψυχή psuche (psï-chee') n.
1. soul, inner being or life.
2. (literally) breath.

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul (ψυχή); the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 1 Corinthians 15:45​
​
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul (ψυχή) and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23​
Click to expand...
I appreciate your comment and I intend to reply. Please be patient with me.
 
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biblestudent78 said:
Exactly at the heart of the question. By Genesis (with the preferred version) the body and soul are one thing. Indivisible. We are a soul with a body. However, that does not answer the important question of exactly what is a soul separate from the body? If they are one and the same thing then both die together. If you accept Genesis as the composition and redactions of the 8th through the 4th century BC, then it is easy to see how it evolved in harmony with the evolving need for something to reward or punish. If the soul has no connection to the human body, then how do heavenly rewards for our souls (which requires all sensory ability a living human) work? In the same way, how do our souls suffer exactly the same way as our bodies would if the soul is not physical, if it has no pain receptors, no skin, no tears, etc in hell.? Either approach requires circular logic. On one hand the soul can't "experience" anything as it has no human components that are required. It cannot see, hear, smell, think or feel. It has no memory to provide the regret of hell or the reward of "reunion" with our personal earthly friends and loved ones. Only a human body can do so. Only a human brain can experience these emotions.
Click to expand...

The soul exists and can communicate (hear and speak) apart from the body

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls (ψυχή) of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. Revelation 6:9-11​
 
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